SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/1/2023 9:54 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-3 “The Exactness of Prophecy”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew 21:1b-7
Message of the verses: “then Jesus sent
two disciples, 2 saying to them, "Go into the village opposite you, and
immediately you will find a donkey tied there and a colt with her; untie
them, and bring them to Me. 3 “And if anyone says something to
you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send
them." 4 Now this took place that what was spoken through the prophet
might be fulfilled, saying, 5 "SAY TO THE DAUGHTER OF ZION, ‘BEHOLD YOUR
KING IS COMING TO YOU, GENTLE, AND MOUNTED ON A DONKEY, EVEN ON A COLT, THE
FOAL OF A BEAST OF BURDEN.’" 6 And the disciples went and did just as Jesus had directed
them, 7 and brought the donkey and the colt, and laid on them their
garments, on which He sat.”
I have been talking about the differences between the
coronation of Jesus which is what we have been looking at for a while now, and
what a coronation of an earthly king would be like. I suppose that that kind of coronation could
be seen in England just a little while ago.
We can see that in the coronation of Jesus that He will use a colt of a
donkey to ride into Jerusalem as the prophet Zachariah foretold. John MacArthur writes about this: “It was the sovereign choice of God the
Father and of God the Son, who Himself willingly came to earth as the Servant
Savior, to take upon Himself the sin of the world. Nothing could have been more appropriate than
that the Bearer of the world’s sin burden would enter God’s holy city of Zion riding
on a lowly beast of burden.”
I
have just mentioned that this prophecy fulfillment was what Zechariah wrote
probably 500 years before Jesus’ birth, but there is another prophecy fulfillment
seen here too. What I am talking about
as far as another prophecy fulfillment is something that the Lord used to bring
me to Himself back in January of 1973, and yes this may seem strange to some,
as it surely was not typical of when most people became believers. The prophecy I am talking about comes from
Daniel chapter nine, one of my very favorite chapters in the entire Bible. Daniel was looking at the prophet Jeremiah
and found out that the children of Israel were to be released from their
captivity after 70 years. Daniel writes "For
thus says the LORD, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will
visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place”
(Jer. 20:10). Daniel knew that the 70 years were almost up and so the first part of
Daniel chapter nine is a wonderful prayer that Daniel prays confessing the sins
of Judah and praying that God will forgive them. “20 Now while I was speaking and praying, and
confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my
supplication before the LORD my God in behalf of the holy mountain of my God, 21
while I was still speaking in prayer, then the man Gabriel, whom I had
seen in the vision previously, came to me in my extreme weariness about
the time of the evening offering. 22 He gave me instruction and
talked with me and said, "O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you
insight with understanding. 23 "At
the beginning of your supplications the command was issued, and I have come to
tell you, for you are highly esteemed; so give heed to the message and gain
understanding of the vision” (Daniel 9:20-23). Now in verses 24-27 we see this amazing
prophecy that was given to Daniel from Gabriel, and a part of this is fulfilled
in Matthew 21. Let me quote Daniel
9:24-27 at this time: “24 “Seventy weeks
have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the
transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring
in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the
most holy place. 25 “So you are to know and discern that from the
issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there
will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza
and moat, even in times of distress. 26 “Then after the sixty-two weeks the
Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is
to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come
with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined. 27
“And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle
of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing
of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete
destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.’” To understand this prophecy we have to
understand that when it says “Seventy weeks” it means seventy sevens or 490 years. Verse 25 talks about a decree to be made that
will start this 490 years, and that decree was given in the second chapter of Nehemiah:
“ 1 And
it came about in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, that wine was before him, and I
took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his
presence. 2 So the king said to me, "Why is your
face sad though you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of heart."
Then I was very much afraid. 3
I said to the king, "Let
the king live forever. Why should my face not be sad when the city, the place
of my fathers’ tombs, lies desolate and its gates have been consumed by
fire?" 4 Then the king said to me, "What would
you request?" So I prayed to the God of heaven. 5 I
said to the king, "If it please the king, and if your servant has found
favor before you, send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I
may rebuild it.’”
This is the decree that starts the 490
years and it will end with one week or seven years left on the prophecy when
Jesus rides into Jerusalem on the colt and offers Himself to them as their
King, but they will instead kill him as the prophecy in Daniel 9:26 tells
us. The words “cut off” found in verse
26 speak of His death. I want to quote
from the gospel of Luke, as we will see that Luke’s passage is talking about
the same event but will add a couple of things that is not seen in Matthew’s
account. 37 As soon as He was
approaching, near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of the
disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles
which they had seen, 38 shouting: "BLESSED IS THE KING WHO COMES IN THE
NAME OF THE LORD; Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" 39 Some of
the Pharisees in the crowd said to Him, "Teacher, rebuke Your
disciples." 40 But Jesus answered, "I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will
cry out!’” Now I want to look a
verse 42 “"If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now
they have been hidden from your eyes.”
Let
me try to explain what is happening here.
From the time that the decree is given to rebuild the city given in
Nehemiah chapter two until Jesus rides into Jerusalem is a total of 173,880
days and then the prophecy stops and will not start again until the antichrist
makes a covenant with Israel for them to rebuild the temple. This begins the last seven years are what is
called the tribulation period, which will end with Jesus coming back to planet
earth as seen in Revelation chapter 19.
I think perhaps you can see why this prophecy in Daniel chapter nine is,
to me the greatest prophecy found in the Word of God.
6/1/2023 10:54 AM
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